I get excited every time I see Venetian Snares come up on release schedules. The fact that he single-handedly outputs more records than many small labels means I get excited quite oftenHis last release was June’s ‘Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms’. After initial enjoyment, I grew tired of it. It seemed a bit lightweight by his standards, almost like a ‘Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding’ for beginners. There were moments of brilliance - take the ending of ‘Swindon’ or the vocal sample in ‘Tache’ - but the overly dramatic melodies (think Spielberg films) coupled with the a heavy reliance on fairly traditional drum-machine sounds ultimately gave the album a considerably shorter shelf life than some of his more enduring works. In fact, ever since 2005’s Rossz Csillag Alatt Született, (the one that sounds like a bipolar Cinematic Orchestra) his records seem to be catchier, at the expense of longevitySo what about ‘Hospitality’? More of the same I’m afraid. While it’s sprinkled with many truly great moments, these isolated parts just aren’t enough. The “strawberries” vocal combined with the dark melody in ‘Cabbage’ make it one of the standout tracks. The pop melody and driving bassline of anthemic ‘Duffy’ are good on the first few listens but begin to sound repetitive soon after. The intro of ‘Frictional Nevada’ is either camp drama or just a little too earnest for my liking. Can anyone use string stabs outside of a piss-take? There is a glimmer of the fucked-up imagination of 2004’s ‘Horse and Goat’ on ‘Beverly’s Potatoe Orchestra’, but outside of a scary vocal sample, there isn’t much else on offer. The title track itself is just Venetian-Snares-by-numbers with a bit of acid thrown in and should have never have made it past quality control. Where is the darkness of ‘Bezcitny’ or the sheer bonkers-ness of ‘Nepetalactone’? And for fuck’s sake, enough drum machine type sounds already. Snares’ finest works in the past used them sparingly if at all, replacing them with more synthetic noises - why return to a more dated sound?I am aware of the fact that had this album been made by anyone other than Snares, I would probably have given it a much better write-up. However, from someone who has released some of the most inventive works in the last decade or so, this is a disappointment